News Room

(Sacramento) – The Great Solar Eclipse will pass over California on August 21st, reducing the amount of renewable power going to the state’s electrical grid. To offset the lost solar power, Assemblymember Bill Quirk (D-Hayward), and millions of other Californians, will be conserving power. Be a part of the Great Solar Eclipse energy conservation team, watch and share this video.

This legislation might be hard to swallow: Lawmakers are considering a bill that would clear the way for California communities to put highly treated wastewater directly into the drinking water supply.

“The media likes to start off with the catchy phrase toilet to tap,” said Jennifer West, managing director of Water Reuse, about the intensive purification process. “But there’s a lot that goes on between toilet and tap.”

Those criteria could incorporate a level of public health protection as good as or better than what is currently provided by conventional drinking water supplies.” — Water Resources Control Board.

Assembly Bill 574, authored by Assembly Member Bill Quirk, D-Hayward, would require the State Water Resources Control Board to develop regulations in four years for “direct potable reuse” provided research on public health issues is completed.

SACRAMENTO – Assembly Bill (AB) 549, authored by Assemblymember Bill Quirk (D-Hayward), to ensure firefighters are properly notified when municipalities approve a building permit for an electrified security fence has been signed into law.

Existing law requires that signage be placed along a property indicating when there is an electrified security fence present. However, there is no requirement that the local firefighters or fire marshal be notified when a permit is approved. This poses a potentially significant safety risk for firefighters responding to an emergency call at these locations.

Utility worker removes metallic film balloon from power line in Santa Monica in March 2017

SACRAMENTO – Assembly Bill (AB) 1091, authored by Assemblymember Bill Quirk (D-Hayward), to decrease the amount of power outages caused by metallic film balloons, also known as Mylar, has been vetoed.

Each year, electric utilities experience hundreds of power outages caused by the release of Mylar balloons when they come into contact with power lines. Over 1 million customers have been affected by a power outage caused by a metallic film balloon since 2015. CAL FIRE documented two fires in 2013 and 2015 caused by metallic film balloons, which burned over 10,000 acres combined, and cost millions of dollars to suppress.